Florida Title Agent Caves On Eve Of Trial; Cops Plea To $660K+ Swindle Of Clients' Real Estate Escrow Funds

In Lakeland, Florida, The Ledger reports:

• A 31-year-old woman pleaded no contest [last] Monday to charges that she stole more than $660,000 while working as a Lakeland real estate title agent. [...] Daniels was the former owner of Independent Title Agency LLC in Lakeland.

• She was arrested March 14, 2008, after an investigation concluded she took $660,786 set aside from clients to pay for title services. Daniels used some of the money to buy a BMW sedan, an in-ground swimming pool and a personal watercraft, according to an affidavit of Michael Hennessy, a detective with the Florida Department of Financial Services' Fraud Division.

• Jury selection was to begin Monday in Daniels' case. Instead, she pleaded no contest to money-laundering, grand theft and three counts of misappropriating escrow funds.

Source: Lakeland Real Estate Title Agent Pleads No Contest to $660,000 Theft. EscrowRipOffKappa